Spotlight on the war in Iraq

A new Vietnam or just a new mess? The American media is searching for a way out for the US as Iraq descends deeper into chaos.

The New York Times found "Vietnam analogies are deeply imperfect when discussing the war in Iraq", although it added that talk of the Tet offensive was not a good sign for the Bush Administration.

"What we need desperately is a clear mission, a believable strategy for success, a morally viable exit plan and international involvement. Instead, the Administration's current strategy seems to be simply urging perseverance. Staying the course is noble when the cause is right. But perseverance for the sake of perseverance is foolhardy."

The Washington Post said the United Nations had to be called in to help and traditional allies persuaded to get off the fence. "Even with UN involvement, the United States probably cannot turn around the situation in Iraq without much greater international support. Remarkably, major US allies with capable military forces, ranging from Germany and France to Turkey, India and Pakistan, continue to watch from the sidelines as Iraq flirts with a catastrophe that would be deeply damaging to their own interests.

"Mr Bush should immediately begin an effort to rally these countries and the world's other democracies behind an effort to stabilise Iraq and defeat its extremists."

Outside the US, Arab newspapers have been universally hostile to the American effort in Iraq. The Gulf News, published in the United Arab Emirates, lambasted the US. "A year after it took control of Iraq and the collapse of the Saddam regime, the US is back to square one. Security has not been restored and nor is there a government exercising a real role. There appears to be no political blueprint looming on the horizon, either.

"A solution to this problem . . . cannot be achieved by [the US] using its formidable arsenal to bomb cities and civilians.

"There must be a political solution as soon as possible. And there will be no solution without the involvement of the United Nations, Arab countries and Europe, which must be involved in charting out the future of Iraq with the direct participation of the Iraqis themselves.

"The US must not monopolise this solution as it is trying to do now . . . Washington had promised the Iraqis that it would rid them of the Saddam regime. Instead, the US is enslaving them today."